Kay climbed back up the ladder, looking for a towel, or blanket to dry off with. She was giggleing at the difference in temperature once she left the warmth of the spring. As she climbed into the treehouse, she stopped dead in her tracks, and looked around her.

"Oh wow..." That was all she said. But the wonder in her eyes said it all. Spyral had done good. She looked at the Angel, and then at Ragnar and grinned. At the puzzled look on Emram's face when Ragnar pulled him back, she chuckled.

"Um...Spyral's murals aren't just pretty pictures. They hold adventures of their own. And once in one, you usually have to carry it through to come back. Either that or have someone here to help. lol. And sometimes just a finger too close is all it takes to be sucked into the picture."

Puppies....They eat, they sleep, they play, they pee, they poop and they make us smile...

"Wow! It sure is dusty in here." He said as he started dusting off the furniture. "I guess it is a little hard for the DRD's to get up here though."

Drum began to pick up some of the trash left over from the last get together. Empty beer cans and bottles, half eaten food cubes (who is still eating these nasty things!), dried up paint brushes and empty paint cans. Drum filled up a couple of trash bags and started lugging them towards the door.

"What am I doing!" He said as he dropped the bags in disgust. "Manual labor is beneath me, I'm a Master Mage! Besides, I haven't had a chance to flex the old magic muscle in awhile."

After a few moments of stretching and popping knuckles, he spread his hands out toward the bags of trash. "This should do the trick."

Drum began gesturing and muttering words of magic. After just a few seconds the bags of trash began to move. Then they began to merge into one big bag. The big bag began to move forward. Drums smile quickly faded.

"Uh oh!"

A few seconds later, Drumheller was running for the mansion screaming.

"Well, I know something has to be done," Drum said staring at the monstrosity making it's way across the lawn. "but what? Summon a giant trash compactor!"

"You could use a fireball...." Jila started to reply. "No, then we'd have a giant flaming trash monster. Can't you just teleport it away?"

"I don't think magic is going to work. If my magic somehow created it, who knows what more of my magic will do to it!" Drum looked around helplessly. "Maybe if we go inside and shut the door, it will leave."

Jila frowned. "You can't be serious."

"No, I guess not."

"Well, we should'nt just stand here." Jila grab Drum by the arm. "Let's lead it away from the mansion while we try to think of something."

"Hey Stupid!" Jila waved her arms as she ran away from the Mansion. "Hey Stupid! Over here!"

"You do realize," Drum ran a few steps behind Jila, his robe sleeves flapping wildly as he waved his own arms around, "that it's too stupid to understand you."

"Yeah," Jila ran a few yards toward the monster, still waving, and then ran back to Drum, "but all I want to do is get it's attention so it'll follow us." Jila ran toward the monster one more time and then back again. "Could we contain it?"

"I told you," Drum yelled as he ran in a large figure eight, "using more magic might be dangerous. Who knows what throwing a containment field around it might do."

"What about my magic?" Jila picked up a rock and threw it at the garbage monster. *Ew, it stuck* The monster howled. The rock had gotten it's attention. It started toward them gaining speed with each step. "It's different from yours. Would it work?"

"I don't know but we'd better move." Drum grabbed Jila's arm and they ran for the backside of the mansion.

"What if we make it fall, or run it into the wall?"

"I doubt if it would fall apart if that's what you're thinking." Drum stopped running and waved his arms around again. They had rounded the corner and lost sight of the monster. He didn't know if the monster was dumb enough, or smart enough, to keep going once it lost sight of them. "We've got to kill it somehow."

"How do you kill a garbage monster? Cover it with a giant trash bag???"

"Oh man....we...need to...think.....of something.....soon." Drum panted as the two came to a brief stop. "We're starting to leave the mansion grounds. Soon we'll be entering the 'General discussion forums', and I don't think they will appreciate a garbage monster running through the middle of a 'John and Aeryn' romance discussion."

"You have a point there." Jilla said wiping her forehead with her sleeve. "Where do we go now?"

"Maybe we can think of a way to trap it," Drum started looking around, "like in a pit or something."

"We don't have time to dig a pit!"

They could both hear the monster crashing through the trees coming closer. As it emerged from the tree line, it raised one of it's garbage monster arms as if to point at the two scoobs.

"OUCH!" Drum yelled rubbing his shoulder. "I think it just shot a beer bottle at me!"

A deep loud rumbling noise started coming from the creature and it's whole body began to shake.

"I think it's laughing at you Drum." Jilla said with a slight grin.

"That does it! This thing is really starting to tick me off!"

Drum started to run full speed at the garbage creation, muttering a spell as he ran. He lept into the air as his body changed into the form of a large wolf. With a disgusting squishing noise, Drum flew straight through the monster, and landed hard on the opposite side.

"Eww, nasty!" Drum said as he changed back and pulled a banana peel off his face. "I got bits of it all over me!"

Deep monster laughter started rumbling again. The creature turn to look at Drum. That's when Jilla began a spell of her own....

Ragnar licked his lips and squinted one wrinkling eye as he leaned foreward and peered into the web of small copper piping that was his latest creation. The pressure gaugue was beginning to stir.

He grinned, rubbing his hands together in anticipation, He had the mixture right this time, he KNEW it. It even smelled right....well except for that strange ....garbage...like odor that seemed to waff thru from somewhere. Sword and Leaped would be impressed. Wait and see!

*snapp* the soft sound of a twig snapping.

Crouching, looking anxiously Left, right, there, and back...nothing. He pirouetted as only a large viking could, scanning the surroundings.

He couldn't be too careful, why else would he bother to lug all this stuff out into the forsaken boonies. It wouldn't do for the ladies to find his newest still before he had the brew perfected. Punch o doom was an artwork after all.

He looked around once again. Not that he could actually see much thru the thick brush and trees. He'd picked this little secluded clearing for just such reasons. Still....

He peered back at the pressure guague...oooo a tiny surge of anticipation. Better stoke the fire a little more. The mash had to be heated just right.

Jila flexed her fingers and concentrated. She hadn't had to use any spells for a while and she was sadly out of practice. *Let's hope this works.*

"Drum, you've got to move back but don't make it move with you."

"You're kidding. Right?" Drum picked another piece of garbage off himself as the monster tossed yet another piece of itself at him and chuckled.

"Okay then," Jila calculated how much room she should need for the containment spell. "Just jump back quick when I tell you to."

"Gotcha" Drum looked left and right to make sure he wouldn't trip on anything.

"Ready?" Jila whispered all but the last word of the spell. "Now!" she yelled and then whispered the last word.

Now you remember Murphy's Law, right? Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible moment. Well, just as Drumheller threw himself away from the garbage monster the monster made a lunge toward Drum. The containment field, which was thrown to just the area that the monster was standing appeared and cut off the appendages that were outside the field.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO" Jila heard a male voice yell, then a thump and a huge exposion.

"WTH??" Jila looked from the direction of the voice to Drum (who was covered in goo and garbage now from the flying appendage), and back to direction of the voice.

"Go!" Drumheller peeled off his robe and shook it gently. "I'll catch up"

Jila ran and then stopped just over the line of Mansion property.

"No, No, No" Ragnar sat on the ground, his face covered in slime and smoke coming from his moustache. "This can't be happening."